January doesn’t just mean it’s time for colder days and snowfall that makes traffic a mess. January also means that cold and flu season is fully upon us. And what better movie to watch during cold and flu season than Steven Soderbergh’s thriller about a killer virus that threatens to wipe out a significant portion of the world’s population. Watching Contagion on Blu-ray or DVD gives you a sense of security because you won’t be terrified every time someone in the movie theater coughs. And that sense of security can be helped by knocking back a few beers or glasses of wine while watching the movie. Just get your flu shot first.

Guess what everyone, the Emmys are back in town! Aren’t you excited?! No, that’s okay, neither am I. Just another night for some of Hollywood’s biggest talents to pat themselves on the back for making pretend (really good pretend, though). But you know what, we here at FSR will treat this with the utmost respect that we do all awards ceremonies. That said, before we get to the predictions, let’s take a look at some of the top winners from the Creative Arts Awards portion of the Emmys which were awarded last week: Futurama walked away with the top honor for animated program based on the episode ‘The Late Philip J. Fry,’ beating out front runners South Park and The Simpsons who dominated the category between 2000 and 2009. This also marks the second time Futurama has won the award for Best Animated Series. Maurice LaMarche also walked away with the award for Best Voice-Over Performance for his work on the series as Lrr and Orson Welles. Gwyneth Paltrow took the award for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Holly Holiday on Glee. Game of Thrones took the award for Best Title Sequence. Boardwalk Empire took the win for Best Visual effects beating out the likes of The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Deadliest Catch won the award for Best Reality Series (a win that is more than acceptable in this category). Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let’s move on to [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr heads into the MMA ring to battle Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, after being trained by a strung-out Nick Nolte who looks like he’s ready to have an aneurysm at any moment. Then he is sent into a bird flu panic when someone coughs on him at the airport. Not wanting to suffer the same fate as Gwenyth Paltrow, he takes a road trip down to the Louisiana bayou where he runs into a hillbilly redneck alligator mutant. But at least he didn’t have to see Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star.

A box just landed on my doorstep, and as the UPS man drove away, I opened it up to find a device that gets rid of germs on cell phones using some sort of UV light. Why would a marketing department send me that? Because inside was a USB drive containing the first trailer for Contagion – the forthcoming viral outbreak thriller from Steven Soderbergh. What better way to kick everything off? Plus, the trailer is gripping. Matt Damon brings the intensity, Laurence Fishburne brings the expertise, the rest of the cast (including Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard and Jude Law) bring anxiety, but behind every single performance is a major element of fear. Holy hell, this looks great:

Every day, come rain or shine or internet tubes breaking, Film School Rejects showcases a trailer from the past. If a fresh new detective and a wizened black detective who’s getting too old for this shit get called into investigate an obese man stuffed full of spaghetti, you know things are about to turn for the worse. Today’s trailer drives us all the way out to a field and shows us our true nature. They don’t call them deadly sins for nothing. Think you know what it is? Check the trailer out for yourself:

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr heads into the January movie season with a heavy heart. He checks out Gwyneth Paltrow’s latest award bait flick, Country Strong. Hint, hint… no one is taking the bait. Then he tries like hell to see Season of the Witch, but the lack of regional press screenings and midnight shows keep him and Nicolas Cage’s mullet sadly apart. What else would you expect from the industry coming back from winter break. After all, this is the time of year that the mega-hits Leprechaun, BloodRayne and Bride Wars came out.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr welcomes the summer movie season by handing out a grade to Iron Man 2.

Throughout the week, Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment have been slowly releasing little clips from their upcoming tentpole Iron Man 2. Most of them have been rather boring. Not this one, though.

If you ever wondered what kind of stuff happens at a press conference, this is the article for you. Plus, we learn a few things that are actually about the movie, too!

As May 7 draws closer, it is safe to assume that we’ll be writing more and more about Iron Man 2. As was the case with the first Iron Man film in 2008, there was an epic marketing push down the stretch. It’s hard to ignore it as well, because everything we’re seeing from Iron Man 2 looks great. And we’re just as excited as you are, so we’ll keep bringing you the good stuff as it is released.

Earlier today, Paramount Pictures released their final press kit for Iron Man 2, and with it come a few brand new pictures. There are also some old pictures. All of them are in very high resolution, which I’m sure will interest some of our readers — as high resolution photos of everyone’s favorite badass tin can make for sweet desktop wallpapers. Amirite?

A week ago today, the international theatrical poster for Iron Man 2 was released on the web. The reaction was less than enthusiastic from commenters on this site, many calling out the mediocre Photoshop skills employed to put it together. I have a feeling that the reaction to the domestic theatrical poster, which was released today via MySpace, will be similar.

Iron Man is back. And while I’m not exactly soiling myself over the first trailer for the sequel to Jon Favreau’s fantastic 2008 superhero flick, I am excited. And you should be, too.

Some days it doesn’t take much. In fact, when the news is slow here in the movie blogosphere, a trailer-for-a-trailer is all that you need to make a big splash, especially when it’s for a movie like Iron Man 2.

The folks at Yahoo Movies have debuted one brand new photo from the upcoming Marvel Studios actioner Iron Man 2 this evening, which shows off Scarlett Johansson looking hot as Natasha Romanoff.

This week we celebrate the darker side with one of the best cop movies out there. What’s in the box? What’s in the box?!

Earlier today our cheeky British friend Brendan Connelly over at /Film filed an interesting report about Gwyneth Paltrow and the expansion of her role as Pepper Potts in Iron Man 2.

Joaquin Phoenix delivers a strong performance, and the beauty and cold of the Brighton Beach winter comes to life for this stirring romantic drama.

Sometimes when I prep for this column, I scrounge to find ideas. However, there are also weeks when entertainment news is so filled with stupid stories that I can’t help but gather them together. As a New Year’s present, I offer you this hodge podge of WTF stories from the past week.

By now you’ve probably heard that there won’t be a “next time, baby,” for Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2. Now we know why, a bout over the Benjamins and bad behavior.